in every state that is being drawn into and has been drawn into the general course of world history?
If a certain level of culture is required for the creation of socialism (although no one can say what exactly this definite "level of culture" is, since it differs in each of the Western European states), then why is it not permissible for us to begin by conquering through revolution the prerequisites for this definite level, and then, on the basis of workers' and peasants' power and the Soviet system, proceed to catch up with other peoples?

16 January 1923

II

To create socialism, you say, civilization is required. Very good. But why could we not first create such prerequisites of civilization among ourselves, like the expulsion of the landlords and the expulsion of Russian capitalists, and only then begin the movement toward socialism? In what books have you read that such deviations from the usual historical order are impermissible or impossible?

I recall that Napoleon wrote: "On s'engage et puis... on voit." In a free Russian translation this means: "First one must commit oneself to a serious battle, and then one will see." That is exactly what we did — we committed ourselves first, in October 1917, to a serious battle, and then we saw such details of development (from the standpoint of world history these are, undoubtedly, details), as the Brest Peace or the NEP and so forth. And at the present time there is already no doubt that in the main we have achieved victory.

Our Sukhovs — not to mention the social-democrats standing to the right of them — do not even dream that revolutions cannot be made in any other way. It does not even occur to our European philistines that subsequent revolutions in the immeasurably more densely populated countries of the East, with their immeasurably greater diversity of social conditions, will undoubtedly present them with considerably more peculiarity than the Russian revolution.

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V. I. LENIN

There is no denying that a textbook written according to Kautsky was a very useful thing for its time. But it is high time to abandon the notion that this textbook foresaw all the forms of development of subsequent world history. Those who think thus would, it would be timely to declare, simply fools.

17 January 1923

Published 30 May 1923
in the newspaper "Pravda" No. 117
Signed: Lenin

Printed from the secretary's record (typewritten copy), checked against the newspaper text
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